BREAKING: Emily Padgett and Matthew Hydzik Set to Lead FLASHDANCE Tour!

Broadway stars Emily Padgett and Matthew Hydzik will star as "Alex" and "Nick" in the world premiere of FLASHDANCE – THE MUSICAL, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation. Padgett and Hydzik will be joined on stage by the legendary Rachelle Rak in the role of "Tess." Sergio Trujillo, director and choreographer for the production returned to the home of FLASHDANCE and launch of the world premiere, Pittsburgh's Heinz Hall, to announce the lead casting from a press conference. Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Kevin McMahon, CEO of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, were also on hand to welcome the cast and creative team to Pittsburgh and to make a proclamation, naming January 1, 2013 as FLASHDANCE DAY. Celebrating its 30th Anniversary,FLASHDANCE kicks off a national tour January 1-6 at Heinz Hall and continues on to more than 20 cities with additional bookings to be announced:

In addition to the US touring company, a Second Company will be assembled for the creatively reworked production of FLASHDANCE, which will begin performances on Broadway in August 2013 for an open-ended engagement.

With electrifying dance at its core, FLASHDANCE-THE MUSICAL tells the inspiring and unforgettable story of Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh steel mill welder by day and a bar dancer by night with dreams of one day becoming a professional performer. When romance with her steel mill boss threatens to complicate her ambitions, Alex learns the meaning of love and its power to fuel the pursuit of her dream.

Celebrating its 30th Anniversary, the original Paramount Pictures film was a worldwide smash hit that became a pop culture phenomenon, grossing over $150 million and featuring a Grammy Award-winning soundtrack. FLASHDANCE – THE MUSICAL features a score including the hit songs from the movie, all of which became Top Ten hits on the radio around the world including the Academy Award-winning title song "Flashdance – What a Feeling," "Maniac," "Gloria," "Manhunt," "I Love Rock & Roll." In addition to these hits, 16 brand new songs have been written for the stage with music by Robbie Roth and lyrics by Robert Cary and Robbie Roth.

Directed and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys, Memphis, The Addams Family), FLASHDANCE features a book by Robert Cary and Tom Hedley (co-writer of the original screenplay with Joe Eszterhas),

Emily Padgett (Alex) Having been involved with FLASHDANCE since the first reading with Sergio Trujillo, Emily is beyond thrilled to bring this iconic character to the stage! She was most recently seen on Broadway as Sherrie Christian in Rock of Ages. Other Broadway credits include Legally Blonde and Grease. Emily was also seen as Eden Siller in the World Premiere of White Noise at the Royal George Theatre in Chicago. Other NY Workshops include Sheryl Crow's Diner. TV Credits include "Louie", "America's Got Talent", and "Shall we Dance on Ice" . Love and Thanks to Soffer/Namoff Entertainment.

Matthew Hydzik (Nick)A Pittsburgh native, Matthew feels that it's perfectly fitting to launch Flashdance's US tour amongst friends and family in the hometown that he loves dearly. Matthew was last seen on Broadway starring as Tony in the revival of West Side Story, as well as Kenickie in Grease. Off-Bway; John in Tomorrow Morning. National tours of Rent, Fame and Grease. Go Stillers!

Rachelle Rak (Tess) is from Pittsburgh and was trained by her mother at The Rosalene Kenneth Dance Studio. At the age of 17 Rachelle joined the National Tour of Cats. She auditioned at the Benendum Center, she was a senior at Canevin Catholic High School and was cast and left for the road. Her Broadway Credits: Fosse, Catch me if you Can, Cats, Thou Shalt Not, Oklahoma!, The look of Love and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. She is featured in the Documentary Film "Every Little Step", The Making of A Chorus Line. National Tours: Starlight Express and Smoke Joe's Cafe, International: Sunset Blvd and The Trip of Love. Regional: Chicago: Velma Kelly, A Chorus Line:Sheila. Rachelle is thrilled to work with Director, Choreographer Sergio Trjuillo. "Flashdance" was the film that inspired the hope and desire to be in show business. She was 14 years old when she watched it probably 100 times and she knew that even though her story was different then Alex Owens, she wanted to leave Pittsburgh and go to Broadway. Well, that dream happened and she is so thankful she gets to return to her home town and debut the role of Tess in Flashdance -The Musical.

Tom Hedley (Book, original screenplay for the Flashdance movie). As editor-in-chief of Toronto Life, Tom Hedley turned it into the "magazine of the year" and published, among others, Margaret Atwood, Leonard Cohen, Robertson Davies and won national magazine award for fiction by Alice Munro. He was the youngest ever editor of Esquire Magazine during the magazine's golden age, working for the legendary Harold Hayes in New York. During his four-year tenure, he worked with important writers and artists of the time including Tom Wolfe, Michael Herr, Diane Arbus, Jean Genet, William Burroughs, Gay Talese and Robert Coover. He produced a number of celebrated cover-sections including: "The Decline and Fall of the American Avant Garde" in which he commissioned a play by Sam Shepard that was eventually performed at Lincoln Center, Claes Oldenburg's last happening and a photographic essay on The New Theater by Andy Warhol. He commissioned and published essays by Fedrico Fellini, Francois Truffaut, Michelangelo Antonioni among others, and asked the great directors to direct their own self-portraits. He produced and directed four documentaries for the CBC's flagship current affairs program and wrote a number of produced screenplays including, among others: Circle of Two, directed by Jules Dassin, starring Richard Burton and Tatum O'Neil, Mr. Patman, starring Kate Nelligan and James Colburn, Double Negative, starring Michael Sarrazin, Tony Perkins and John Candy, Fighting Back, starring Patti LuPone and Tom Skerrit and Flashdance, an international hit which won an Academy Award for best-song and has since become a film classic. He has written screenplays for Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, David Geffen, Jean-Paul Goude, Sean Penn, among others. In 2001 he completed a three-year period in London as an editor and publisher of Duckworth, the venerable publishers of Virginia Woolfe and D.H. Lawrence. His titles were generally well received and garnered both awards and books-of-the-year status in leading British journals and newspapers. He also created a new imprint called Duck Editions. Tom Hedley received the Humanitas Prize 2002 award as executive producer of the movie Iris, directed by Richard Eyre, starring Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent and Kate Winslet. The film won any number of international awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. He is currently President of The Hedley Media Group LLC in New York City. He will both write and direct The Last Laugh, an independent film centered around the 1980's comedy scene in Los Angeles.

Robert Cary (Book and Lyrics) is the director of the feature films Ira and Abby, Save Me, and Anything But Love. Ira and Abby received the Audience Favorite award following its premiere at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival and was released by Magnolia Pictures in 2007; Save Me, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the US 2008. Robert Is also the director and co-writer of Anything But Love, starring Andrew McCarthy, Isabel Rose and Eartha Kitt, released by SamuelGoldwyn in 2003. Anything But Love appeared in over a dozen film festivals internationally, and received numerous audience and jury awards. In addition to his film work, Robert Is co-book writer with ZZ Top of the musical Sharp Dressed Man, directed by Andy Fickman and the lyricist and co-librettist of Palm Beach, produced in 2005 by the La Jolla Playhouse and directed by Des McAnuff, and he is also the co-author and lyricist of musical adaptations of The Thomas Crown Affair and Heartbreakers, both commissioned by MGM On Stage.

Robbie Roth (Music and Lyrics). Robbie Roth's music has been heard on stage, screen, and radio all around the world. His songs have graced the Billboard charts in America, and appeared on record alongside Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Johnny Cash, and many others. His work has been featured on "Good Morning America," NBC's "Last Comic Standing," and in a number of films and documentaries. Robbie is most often hired to write and produce for established and upcoming recording artists. In the theatre world, Robbie has been hired as composer on a number of new musicals, and has written and produced records for Tony Award® nominee, Gavin Creel.

Steven Baruch, Tom Viertel, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel (Producer), have produced and managed a wide range of productions for more than 26 years including A Little Night Music, Hairspray, The Producers, Stomp, Burn the Floor, The Norman Conquests, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Company, Little Shop of Horrors, The Weir, The Sound of Music, Smokey Joe's Café, Angels in America, Oleanna, Love Letters, Driving Miss Daisy, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Penn and Teller and many others. Their shows have been awarded 36 Tony Awards®, 47 Drama Desk Awards, 38 Outer Critics Awards, 4 Grammy Awards, 8 Olivier Awards and 2 Pulitzer Prizes. They have the rare distinction of having won Tony Awards® in all four "Best" categories – play, musical, revival of a play and revival of a musical.

TERRI AND Timothy Childs (Producer). For the past 23 years, Terri and Timothy have produced or coproduced 25 shows on Broadway, in London's West End, and for tours in North America and the United Kingdom. Known for innovative producing, they presented Patrick Stewart's one-man A Christmas Carol, James Mapes (hypnotist), The Flying Karamazov Brothers do the Impossible, Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical, and the La Cuadra de Sevilla's version of Carmen, complete with a dancing horse. Their most recent productions include Priscilla Queen of the Desert The Musical, Kim Cattrall in Private Lives (both Broadway), and Ralph Fiennes in The Tempest (London). In addition to Flashdance, future productions include The Conjuror (U.K. 2013), and Richard Bean's Honeymoon Suite (Broadway, 2014). Timothy has directed an even dozen productions, in New York, London, and regionally. He has written a novel, Cold Turkey (Harper & Row), and new a stage adaptation of One Touch of Venus.

NETworks Presentations, LLC Since 1995, NETworks has produced and managed over 45 touring productions in the US., U.K. and internationally. Current Productions include Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Billy Elliot The Musical, Blue Man Group National Tour, Elf The Musical, Flashdance the Musical, La Cage Aux Folles, The New 25th Anniversary Production of Les Misérables, Disney and Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins, Shrek The Musical and National Theatre of Great Britain's production of War Horse touring the U.S.